Refrigerating apparatus.



No. 703,646. Patented July I, I902.

J. 0. FOX.

BEFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

(Application filed Nov. 6, 1801 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

No. 703,646. Patented July I, I902.

- J. 0. FOX.-

REFBIGERATING APPARAT-US.

(Application filed Nov. 6, 1901.) (No Model.) 2 Sheets ShBet 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN C. FOX, OF COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TWO- THIRDS TO EDGAR J. ULBRICH AND CHARLES F. PAIGE, OF COLO- RADO SPRINGS, COLORADO.

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent No. 703,646, dated. July 1, 1902.

Application filed November 6, 1901. Serial No. 81,280. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN C. FOX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Colorado Springs, in the county of El Paso and State of Colorado, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Refrigerating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for chilling the airin refrigeratorcars or refrigerator-chambers generally where the refrigeration is produced by means of ice or its equivalent.

Hitherto it has been usual in operating refrigerator-cars to have the ice exposed to the atmosphere of the car-chamber, whereby the latter becomes chilled by direct contact with the ice and by mingling more or less with the cold vapor emanating from the melting ice. As a consequence the air inthe car-chamber, which may be damp on account of the cars contents, is rendered more damp, and this is an objection, for the reason that the moisture has a more or less. injurious effect upon meats, fruits, and the like perishable goods. It has also been usual to cause the water produced by the melting ice to escape from the car-chamber as fast as it accumulates, thereby losing all the cooling effect upon the atmosphere in the car-chamberwhich this water would contribute.

The object of this invention, primarily, is

to utilize the cold water flowing from the melting ice or any cold liquid flowing through a refrigerating-receptacle while it is below the temperature of the airin the chamber to aid in cooling the latter and, furthermore, to cause the said liquid or water produced-by the melting of the ice to chill surfaces exposed to the atmosphere of the chamber, which will tend to congeal and therefore extract moisture from the said atmosphere.

The object is, still further, to provide improved apparatus for carrying out the abovementioned objects.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a broken plan section of one end portion of a refrigeratorcar provided with means for carrying out the present invention, the section being taken at line 1 in Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a broken section kers B B.

taken on line 2 in Fig. 1,and Fig. 3 a broken cross-section taken on line 3 in Fig. 2.

A is a refrigerator-car, which may be constructed in the usual way with an outer wall a, an inner wall 0., with a dead-air insulating-space a between them. In the end or other convenient part of the car are ice-bun- Preferablytwo ice-bunkers are provided in the end of the car, as shown, and so mounted as to leave a space 1 between them and circulating-spaces 1) between them and the inner walls of the car at their tops, bottoms, and sides. In front of the ice-bunkers is a partition 0, extending across the car from near the floor nearly to the ceiling of the car. The partition is separated by spaces 11 from the bunkers, whereby the air circulates freely across the surface of the latter. The partition C operates as a shield for the ice-bunkers from the contents of the carchamber. The ice-bunkers may be charged with ice or ice and salt through trap-doors above them in the roof of the car in a common manner. The bottoms c of the ice-bun= kers are water-tight. Mounted in the space bbetween the ice-bunkers is a vertical cylinder D, closed at the bottom and open at the top. The cylinder D communicates near its lower end through a coupling pipe or chamber E with the lower ends of the ice bunkers.

The coupling-pipe may be fourway, as shown, its end 02 being closed by a removable cap (1 to permit of its being cleaned out when desired. Extending upward from the pipe E'is a pipe F of comparatively small diameter communicating with a manifold or convoluted pipe F, extending in the horizontal plane and reaching from near one side Wall of the car-chamber to the other. In the same plane as the manifold F is a manifold F consisting of pipes or drums of'larger diameter than the pipes of the manifold F. The manifolds F are connected in series by short connecting-pipes f. It willbe seen from the drawings that the manifold or pipe F forms loops in the spaces between the drums F and at the end of the series opposite the pipe F it discharges into the first of the series of drums F The last of the series of drums F communicates with a pipe F extending downward in the space I) and terminating in a trap 9 below the car-floor. Interposed in the pipe F, near the pipe or chamber E, is a check or non-return valve 71, and in the pipe F near the trap q, is a plug-valve G, having a weighted handle G. Downward turning of the handle G from the position shown in Fig. 2 opens the valve G, while movement upward beyond the position shown in Fig. 2 causes the handle to close the valve G. In the cylinder D is a float D on a cord or the like flexible medium D which passes over a pulleyt'at the ceiling of the car and connects atits opposite ends with the handle G. The object of the pipe F, manifolds F F and pipe F is to form a siphon. Initially said pipes and manifolds are filled from the highest part a: with water, preferably brine. The check-valve h prevents the water from escaping downward from the pipe F, and the valve G being closed prevents the escape of water from the pipe F through the trap g. The bunkers B B are charged with ice in the usual way. The air in the car-chainber circulates over the top of the bunkers, down the four sides thereof, and out again beneath the partition 0. As the ice melts in the bunkers water accumulates therein, fills the chamber or pipe E, and rises in the cylinder D. As the water rises it lifts the float D, permitting the weighted handle G to open the valve G and allow the water to flow downward in the pipe F. This produces a siphoning of the water from the chamber E, the current being upward through the pipe F, thence through the convoluted pipe or manifold F, and thence through the manifold F to the pipe F. The manifolds F F may be supported, as shown, by cross-beams H, secured to the ceiling of the car. Secured to the beams H II below the manifolds is a platform I, having upward-extending sides I, which reach part way toward the ceiling K of the car, and at the center of the car-chamber the platform is separated bya longitudinally-extending space I It is preferable to charge the bunkers with ice and salt, whereby the melting and consequent brine will have a temperature below the freezing-point of pure water. The brine as it is formed and siphoned through the pipes will tend to maintain the pipe or manifold F at a comparatively low temperature and the drums F at a temperature correspondingly low. The atmosphere in the car or refrigerating-chamber will rise through the spaces adjacent to the sides of the car, pass above, below, and between the manifolds, and descend through the space I between the platformsections 1, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3. Any moisture in the air will tend to congeal upon the manifolds, and when brine is employed, as aforesaid, the pipe F, at least, will become coated with frost. The trap g prevents the outside air from rising in the pipe to the valve G and raising the temperature of the waterin warm weather.

By this method of refrigeration the cooling of the air directly from the ice-bunkers is as rapid as by any other system; but the cooling eifect of a given quantity of ice is greatly augmented by the circulation of the water or brine produced in the melting of the ice. in practice the temperature of the water escaping to the trap 9 would be approximately that of the air in the car or refrigerating-chamber. Apparatus such as described may be provided in each end of a refrigerator-car.

Although it is preferred to construct the apparatus throughout as shown and described, obviously it may be variously modified in the matter of details of construction without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the claims.

The circulating liquid may be water produced by the melting of ice, as described, brine, or any suitable refrigerating liquid, and the circulating-pipes should be located, as described, in the upper part of the chamber to be cooled. The construction involving small pipes or manifolds F and large pipes or drums F is important for the reason that the small pipe may be of comparatively great length, and thus present a large area of refrigeratingsurface for the quantity of liquid that is circulated, and the drums F retard the speed of fiow and operate in a sense as reservoirs to hold the liquid until it has absorbed as much heat as possible before escaping. The construction involving the small and large pipes is particularly desirable and effective and is therefore an important feature of my invention. In practice the circulating liquid may have a far greater refrigerating influence upon the atmosphere in the chamber to be cooled than is effected by the exposure of the refrigerating-receptacles or ice-bunkers to the atmosphere of said chamber. If desired, the ice-bunker or refrigerating-receptacle could be placed outside of the car-chamberfor example, beneath the floor thereof-and the liquid therefrom circulated, as described, through the upper part of the car. This would give greater capacity to the car-chamber for the shipment of goods.

WVhat is claimed as new, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a refrigeratingchamber, of a receptacle for refrigerating liquid,a discharge-conduit for the liquid leading from said receptacle and extended through an elongated coursein the upper part of said chamber,siphoning means for circulating said liquid throughout said conduit, a controllingvalve for the liquid in said conduit, and means for opening and closing said valve actuated by the rise and fall of the liquid in said receptacle.

2. The combination with a refrigeratingchamber, of a receptacle for refrigerating liquid, a discharge-conduit for said liquid, loading from said receptacle, and comprising a pipe extended through an elongated course in the upper part of said chamber, a pipe of larger diameter in the upper part of said chamber to which the first said pipe leads, the pipes being exposed to the atmosphere in said chamber, means for" circulating said liquid through said conduit, and a valve in'saidlet endof said conduit, substantially as and i for the purpose set forth.

4. The combination with a refrigeratingchamber,of an ice-holding bunker exposed to the atmosphere in said chamber, a receptacle communicating with said bunker for the water produced by the ice in melting, a conduit leading from said receptacle and extended through an elongated course in said chamber, siphoning means for circulating said water through said conduit, an outlet' valve toward the discharge end of said conduit, and means for opening and closing said Valve actuated by float mechanism in said receptacle, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

JOHN 0. FOX.

In presence of ALBERT D. BACCI, W. B. DAVIES. 

